The United States of America was not founded as a Christian nation. The Founders were quite clear about that. In the 1796 Treaty of Tripoli, ratified unanimously by the Senate just a decade after the Constitution went into effect, U.S. leaders said “the government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian Religion” and has “no character of enmity against the laws, religion or tranquility of” Muslims. They went on to say that “no pretext arising from religious opinions shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the U.S. and Tripoli.
Recently, some have said that the words of this treaty were a lie – a creation of the Founders who wanted to placate the Muslims of Tripoli so the new government could enter a favorable trade agreement. This thinking ignores a plethora of other writings and sayings by the Founders.
Thomas Jefferson, the key author of the Declaration of Independence, and James Madison of Virginia, the key thinker behind the Constitution, wrote explicitly about the importance of keeping the government separate from religion. Jefferson wrote that “religion is a matter which lies solely between Man & his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship.” “[T]he legitimate powers of government reach actions only,” he wrote, “[and] not [religious] opinions.”
In 1785, Madison explained that what was at stake in keeping the state and religion separate was not just religion, but also representative government itself. The establishment of one religion over others attacked a fundamental human right—an unalienable right—of conscience.
If lawmakers could control the right of freedom of conscience, they could control (or destroy) all other rights, including those enumerated in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Those in charge could throw representative government out the window and make themselves tyrants while cloaked in the "Christian" garb.
Rather than basing the United States on religion, the nation’s founders and framers sought to instill in Americans reverence for the nation’s core political values, especially the right and responsibility of self-government and the checks and balances that made that self-government possible. This reverence was to unify the nation and instruct Americans on the rights and duties of citizens who live in a nation that rests on “We the People.” They must think for themselves, question elected officials and take an active role in their government.
Replacing Americans’ civic identity with Christian nationalism destroys this vitally important understanding of the role of citizens in a democracy. Instead, it demands that Americans do as they are told, turning them into subjects.
Bruce McClay, M.A., M.L.S.
Librarian Emeritus Walla Walla University
Battle Ground
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